GINA CARANO GOES HAYWIRE

year: 2012  rating: ***

A year after Steven Soderbergh directed a searing drama about people dropping dead from a horrible virus, someone must have told him to take a vacation – and here it is: a bombastic “paid holiday” for rogue government agent Mallory, both the hunted and hunter while various co-agents, including Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum, attempt punching her lights out. Nice try, fellas: Here, in the lead role, Gina Carano, delivering lines in a constant monotone and not always adding the right amount of glib charm that's essential for endearing action/espionage characters, does kick ass with genuine style and velocity. Along with a retro soundtrack, seeming as if Quentin Tarantino wound up directing a James Bond film, keeps the pace steady and lean. And while Soderbuergh rolls the camera a bit too long during scenes where Mallory ambles from one dangerous setting to the next, it’s somewhat reminiscent of flicks like BULLITT where downtime serves a necessary platform for each action sequence: which are plentiful.

On the peripheral... Bill Paxton as her novelist father, Antonio Banderas as a cautious connection, and Michael Douglas as the Washington D.C. insider provide filler cameos, but it’s Ewan McGregor’s slick operative who really matters – till our wraith-like anti-heroine, a character deserving of more adventures, moves in, once again, for the kill.